Saki Miyanaga
Introduction Team Position: Captain Saki Miyanaga is a first-year student at Kiyosumi High School and is the titular character of the story. She is notorious for her ability to score zero points every match, as she didn't want to win against her family. However, after joining the mahjong club, she uses her skill for the sake of winning and hopes to progress to the finals to reunite with her older sister. At first she is distant towards Nodoka Haramura but over time becomes extremely close to her (to the point where they frequently hold hands and draw strength from each other). She cannot swim and she also appears to have a very poor sense of direction, which leads her to get lost during excursions, particularly in tournaments. Appearance Saki has short brown hair and red eyes. She has a petite body and is most commonly seen in the Kiyosumi High School uniform. Personality Saki is a shy, bookish girl with poor direction. At first, despite her skills, she doesn't like winning or mahjong in particular because of her family. She is very caring about her friends' feelings as seen when she loses on purpose to Yuki to make her feel better and stops doing so because Nodoka wants to have fun. Saki gets very excited when thinking about playing against strong competition. Playing Style / Abilities Her skill primarily comes from her ability to read her opponents (to the point where she can frequently sense the aura of powerful players like Koromo Amae) and along with their tiles present on the table to see the flow of the game. However, she has a hard time reading the board itself and thus initially cannot play online mahjong very well. The mahjong move she favors most is 'Rinshan Kaihou '''or "tsumo after a kan". The literal translaton is "a flower blooms on a ridge". Plot Introduction Arc The story starts off with Saki sitting near a river reading a book and notices Nodoka walking past. As she thinks to herself about the girl that walked past her, Kyotaro (Saki's middle school friend) invites her to lunch so he can try the girls lunch. At lunch she notices Kyo playing something which turns out to be mahjong. Saki states she knows how to play it and hates it, however since she knew how to play Kyo drags her to the club. There Saki meets the girl from before and Yuuki Kataoka. The four begin to play and Saki ends with a +/- 0 for two games. When a storm begins Saki notices someone in the bed and is introduced to the president of the mahjong club Hisa Takei. After the next game ends again with Saki breaking even she leaves saying that she has to take a book back. We next see Saki after Nodoka chases her down and we learn that Saki plays the way she does because of her family, she then declines Nodoka's request for another game stating that she hates mahjong. The next day we see Saki in the library looking for a book but it was already checked out. Hisa suddenly greets her, then checks the title of the book and says that in exchange for two matches she can borrow the whole set from the mahjong club. When Saki enters the club see plays against Yuuki, Mako Someya, and Nodoka with a special rule set ( East Wind game with 4 red tiles). Throughout the game Hisa discovers that Saki doesn't care about winning at all and only thinks of breaking even and after a difficut match she does. Hisa tries to convince her that she should try and win but to no avail, so Hisa tells her that she should imagin herself with 1000pts to everyones 33000pts. Saki agrees saying that breaking even like that would be considered a victory. In the later parts of the game Saki hits her first played yakuman thinking she broke even again, however Hisa explains that she started with the same amount of pts as the rest and its her victory, which makes Saki extremely happy. But Nodoka upset, runs away. Hisa tells Saki to go after her saying that books wont run away crying. When Saki catches up with her, she tells Nodoka that she had fun playing with her but Nodoka is still angry because of what Saki said previously. Later at home Saki brings out her old mahjong table much to the surprise of her dad. After a talk between the two her father hands her a magizine with her sister in it. The next day she joins the mahjong club. We then see Saki before school asleep by a tree. She dreams of her sister and we find out why she likes ''rinshan kaihou before she awakes. Kyo meets up with her and they have a chat about mahjong and about Nodoka and then Yuki joins them to go to the club. They get there only to find Nodoka trying to break even by herself but was unsuccessful. When they start playing Saki dominates the rest and Yuuki whines about not winning. The next match Yuuki wins and Saki breaks even once again, which causes Nodoka to pout and leave the room yet again. Saki chases after her again and tries to talk to her but Nodoka being so angry asks Saki to quit the club. After hearing her reasons, Saki promises not to go easy any more and tells Nodoka of her family troubles and afterward both promise each other their going to the nationals. Training Camp Arc The arc starts with her and Nodoka walking to school together and later having lunch with Yuuki and Kyo. Later Hisa is seen preparing her club for the upcoming prefectural tournament and explaining Ryuumonbuchi's strength. She then asks Nodoka and Saki to help Mako out and fill in for the part-timers who called in sick at the mahjong parlor, stating that she's too busy and it will be a great experience for them. When they arrive they are greeted by Mako and put into embarrassing maid costumes, after that they join a table to play. After winning a few games a strange women joins them at their table. Saki notices her presence and begins trembling saying that it feels like when she used to play with her sister. The stranger starts slow but quickly decimates her two opponents. It was then revealed that she is a pro mahjong player Yasuko Fujita. When Saki feels releaved and says that no high schooler could be a pro, Fujita tells them that she was beaten by Koromo Amae from Ryuumonbuchi and they have no chance against her. Afterward Saki feeling down gets cheered up by Nodoka and they decide they want a training camp to get better. Expecting this, Hisa stayed late at the club room when Saki and Nodoka burst in revealing their intentions. Hisa smiled then walked over to the eraseboard and flipped it to show the already planned training program. At the camp Hisa explains that Saki can see things others can't but playing opponents who can see her tiles would be interesting, so she makes Saki play online mahjong which Saki does horrible at. We are then shown flashes of the training camp up until the day of the preliminarys. In the anime, Saki, Nodoka, and Yuuki travel to a nearby waterfall and discuss how they want to continue being together. They also appear together in the hot spring and Saki see's a shooting star. Prefectural Tournament Arc Before the start of the tournament we see Saki seperated from the group, wandering the halls in search of everyone while passing by Ryuumonbuchi who can feel her presence. When she catches up with the rest, Saki tells them how much she is excited to play against the strong people before heading out to the viewing area. It is there that Hisa reveals that Saki will be the captain in the line-up much to her shock and when opponents pass by mocking Nodoka, she worries for her. Saki is then seen watching Yuuki and Mako's matches before leaving with Nodoka to get something to eat at the request of the president. While in search of the cafeteria, they pass Ryuumonbuchi and are questioned a bit before heading back at the announcement the previous match had ended. She is then seen watching Nodoka's match and afterward is implied to have humilated her opponents during her own match. Saki is next shown at lunch talking about the previous victory and wishing to play stronger competition when Fujita pro arrives to complement them and after a brief conversation heads out for the next round. Kiyosumi is then seen winning and advancing to the finals. Later that night Hisa treats all of her underclassmen to ramen. When the finals begin the next day, Saki is present watching and making brief commentary on Yuuki's match. When the defeated Yuuki returns, she leaves with Nodoka to the nap room so Yuuki can be comforted by the upperclassmen. Shortly before sleeping the two reminisce about their troubles before promising once again to win and go to the nationals. Saki awakens right before Nodoka's match and rushes just in time to wish her good luck. We next see Saki after the match excited for the turn and rushes off to slap a high five (whilst feeling Koromo's presence) before entering the playing area. At the start of her match things were going well with Saki winning the first two hands with a rinshan kaiho, however after Tsuruga's Yumi Kajiki wins off of her, Koromo starts to take over the match. Noticing resistance from the others, Koromo step up her game again and crushes the rest before intermission. Saki noting that the feeling is even worse than playing her sister as a child. During the intermission Saki races toward the bathroom but once again gets lost before Nodoka shows up. After a quick pep talk she leads Saki back to the playing room without her going to the bathroom. After the start of the second half, Koromo Amae once again seized control winning consecutively and dropping Kazekoshi to zero points. Saki however was just beginning to warm up letting Kazekoshi win off of her and after remembering the training camp, takes off her shoes and socks to feel more comfortable. Afterward Saki starts winning with cheap hands and then hits a 24000 pt win. Koromo then asks Saki if she thinks she will win and Saki replies yes and states her desire to reunite with her family. The girl is then reminded of her own tragic past and thinks that she is alone. Angered by this Koromo unleashes her powers and it is so great that the electronics in arena go out and restart later thanks to her. Koromo then hits another haitei raoyue ''ending the hand to go into the final round. It was there that Saki taught Koromo that playing mahjong was fun before defeating her on the last hand with a direct hit yakuman. With the win Kiyosumi came to celebrate with Saki on going to the nationals but Saki ran out heading toward the bathroom. Individual Tournament *Anime Only Arc* We see Saki dreaming of her sister before waking up and heading to school. After school Saki finds Nodoka heading toward the club room and they both reaffirm they're desire to win at the nationals and are curious as to why the president wanted them to bring swimsuits. At the club they find out they're heading to Sports Land for "special training at the pool", Saki is doubtful until Hisa says its a reward. When Kiyosumi gets to the pool it is revealed that Saki cannot swim. Nodoka then suggests that she go into the shallow end and also use the inflatable etopen. When she gets into the pool Saki is so excited that she hugs Nodoka causing her a bit of embarrassment. Later minus the upperclassmen Kiyosumi wonders the hall looking for the VIP room and run into Ryuumonbuchi. After a bit of and exchange they go back to the pool. When the tournament kicks off all of Kiyosumi dominate the competition on the first day and Saki is revealed to have made it into the top 20 and advance to the next day. However on the next day she realizes that this is the presidents only shot to get to the nationals, so she decides to try and make it happen by scoring +/- 0 for the next few rounds. At lunch time Nodoka notices this and scolds her for not playing seriously and talks her into trying her best. As luck would have it in the 9th match of the day Hisa was to play Saki. Throughout the match Saki was contained thanks to a strategy set by Hisa that was working well until Tsuruga's Momoko Touyoko broke from the plan causing Saki to emerge the winner and Saki thanks her after the match. In the last match of the day we see Saki contending for a spot in the nationals along with Kazekoshi's Miharu Yoshitome, Kazue Nanpo, and Tsuruga's Satomi Kanbara. Throughout the match Saki was held in check by her peers until finally edging out a victory with a ''tsumo after a kan ''and therefore earning the final spot in the nationals. A bit after the tournament Saki is seen waiting for Nodoka to finish an interview and is approached by Kyo about going to the summer festival. As Kyo convinced her to wear her yukata, Yuuki interupts bragging about her sexy underwear and telling them about the second training camp. In the club room we then learn that Yuuki has failed her math test and Saki along with Nodoka agree to help her study for make-ups. After they learn they are banned from the club room they try various different study places but get nowhere. They decide to head to the public library and due to the storm is soaked on the way. While drying Saki explains how she always felt that during the rain the room she's in is its own world before Yuuki interupts and they go back to studying. Saki is then shown with everyone except Hisa waiting for Yuuki to finish her test, when she does they all head to the festival. While there Nodoka falls and Saki catches her, they have a moment, then get back up holding hands and joins the rest to watch the fireworks. Combined Training Camp Arc We first see Saki at the start of the camp with Nodoka and Koromo getting ready to play together. The following day Saki along with Koromo and Yasuko Fujita were searching for a final opponent to their match when Touka Ryuumonbuchi takes the final spot at the table and thrashes them. Afterward in Kiyosumi's room we see Saki getting excited by her defeat at such a strong opponent and wishes to play more of them. Then Maho Yumeno and Hiroko Murohashi enter and when Hisa proposes a match between the two and Nodoka and Saki the purpose for the camp is revealed. During the game, Maho copies Saki's ''rinshan kaiho to Saki's amazement but not doing much else. After the match we see Saki sulking and Hisa says that she had been carefee since the prefecturals and that she need her to brace herself for the nationals. However if she faced a strong opponent Saki would just get excited so she used Maho to scare her by threatening her territory. National Tournament Arc In August Kiyosumi arrives at their hotel in Tokyo for the nationals and during their free time the first year girls decided to take a bath and are greeted by Kazekoshi's Kana Ikeda. After hearing her explain why she's there Touka and Koromo appear as well and hug Saki. The day of the tournament draw we see a sleepy Saki put on Mako Someya's skirt. When Nodoka asks is it okay not to visit her sister, Saki says that its okay because they probably wouldn't talk much and that until she gets to the finals she will crush everyone. Later she manages to get lost in the arena. Back at the hotel Saki tries to give the skirt back but instead flashes everyone by accident. On the day of the first round Saki and the rest of Kiyosumi are greeted by their rivals from the prefecturals and Saki is present to view the video sent to the president from fans back home. On their next free day we see everyone watching matches in their room, except Saki who decided to go out and read a book. Throughout the first two matches of the second round we see Saki cheer on her teammates. When its time for Hisa's match, Saki noted that she seemed a bit off. Later in the match she was happy that the president was back to her old self and is scolded by Nodoka because of her different views on it. After Hisa's match she says that she isn't coming back and wishes Nodoka luck before she leaves. Saki is seen conversing with Hisa and Yuki before leaving for her match. Saki Achiga Hen episode of side A Saki first appears as she walks past Achiga Girls School before the bracket drawings with a rather determined expression. When she does this, Harue Akado and Kuro Matsumi could feel her presence (causing both to freeze and shiver slightly) and Shizuno then understood she was the one who defeated Koromo. Category:Kiyosumi High School